Amazon.com no longer available to Australians?

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by Simon Hampel, 31st May, 2018.

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  1. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    Amazon has said that the ban applies to any product delivered to an Australian address. However, GST will be applicable to any item delivered to Australia from OS - Amazon has chosen to block deliveries completely, rather than to ship and allow GST to be collected in whatever manner. It's possibly more as a form of protest against the new laws; the Australian market is comparatively small to them, and they want to encourage the use of their Australian site.

    Whether other retailers shipping from OS wish to follow suit remains to be seen.

    EDIT:
    A new article this morning:
    It's early days, but Amazon may have misread the Australian market
     
    geoffw, 1st Jun, 2018
    #21
  2. abbyfresh

    abbyfresh Well-Known Member

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    This is better news for Ebay and direct local AU sellers with their own sites.

    I tried to sell a few products on Amazon AU. They would have sold well 5 years ago, but now getting smashed on price by Ebay and everyone else. This is likely going to be the issue on their local model, at least for some products.
     
    abbyfresh, 1st Jun, 2018
    #22
  3. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    That was kind of my point ... when the markup locally is 40-60% ... paying 10% more when buying from OS is still a cheaper option.
     
    Simon Hampel, 1st Jun, 2018
    #23
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  4. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Average price drops when you buy in bulk because shipping is cheaper - for example, buy 7 pairs of those socks and your average drops to AU$29.38 per pair. Still expensive of course!

    The trick is to buy them when they are cheaper - last time I bought some I paid just over AU$13 per pair delivered from the US.

    They are moisture wicking coolmax ("ultimax" actually) socks which I first came across before we went backpacking in Patagonia in 2008. They were so comfortable - and for the first time I found my feet weren't sweating like they do in cotton socks - that I haven't worn anything else since.

    Sweaty feet end up blistering more and causing fungal infections, which is really annoying. I avoid wearing cotton for any base-layer clothing these days - has made a lot of difference!

    Moisture wicking fabrics are pretty common these days though - I should try some other brands to see how they go, can probably find something just as good for less money locally.
     
    Simon Hampel, 1st Jun, 2018
    #24
  5. GoldCoastBound

    GoldCoastBound Well-Known Member

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    I sell on Amazon in the USA and the organic growth yearly is still massive...i dont think they'll notice anything nor care
     
    GoldCoastBound, 2nd Jun, 2018
    #25
  6. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Just tried "buying" something from Amazon.com as an experiment - during the checkout process, when I chose my Australian address for delivery, I received the following error:

    We are unable to ship non-digital items from amazon.com to Australian shipping addresses.
    Please choose a shipping address that is not in Australia to proceed. Some restrictions may still apply depending on the item.

    You can also visit Amazon.com.au to access millions of products for delivery to Australia.​
     
    Simon Hampel, 2nd Jul, 2018
    #26
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